A known stackable rectangular crate of the abovementioned type intended for milk packages has proved advantageous in many respects. Thus it is possible in the transport of crates to make use of their supporting elements as runners on a roller conveyor or as guides if the crate is adapted so that the supporting elements adjoin a conveyor track. The lower recess in the crate permits the transport of stacked crates by means, for example, of a fork lift truck without any load pallet adapted for the purpose being required. The stackability of the crates makes possible the stacking of an optional number of crates in a transport vehicle, so that any space available in them in the direction of height can be utilized. At the point of sale the goods, milk products, are clearly displayed to the consumer, thanks to the recesses in the crate. Moreover, the upper recess facilitates the picking out of goods from the crate. In the return transport of empty crates these can be stacked, every other crate in the stack being twisted by 90.degree., the bottom of every other crate resting against the lower sidewalls of the crate located immediately underneath it. In this way the space required for stacked empty crates is considerably reduced.
Advantages described above of the known crate can be obtained also on a similar sort of H-profiled crate especially adapted for bottles. In addition to this, further advantages are obtained compared to the handling of bottles by means of conventional bottle crates, which usually are of a square bot-type form and which are dimensioned for 25 bottles. These advantages will be illustrated in the following.
Since the consumption of beverages is seasonal, the surplus of beverages produced by the breweries is stored during the low season. In the stores the conventional bottle crates are stacked on loading pallets in units of generally 45 crates distributed over nine stacks with five crates in each stack. The stacks are so oriented on the load pallets that each side of the loading units has three stacks. Several such loading units, usually three, can be stacked onto one another. Since each loading pallet is constructed with three horizontal supporting beams, with one of the beams being located right in the centre under the loading pallet, the said centermost beam in a loading unit will exercize pressure on the centermost wall sections of certain of the crates in another unit located underneath. It is possible for the pressure from one or several loading units to destroy the said underlying bottle crate, since the stress can become too great on the centremost wall portions where a bottle crate is least capable of transmitting vertical forces.
A similar loading unit consisting of stacked crates with H-profile requires no loading pallet for its handling. The legs of a fork lift truck make use directly of the lower recess on the crates located nethermost for the lifting of the whole loading unit. The loading units in a stack of loading units may be simply kept apart by means of discs. As a result the vertical forces which act upon stacked crates with H-profile always will be transmitted substantially evenly distributed by the higher sidewalls and the supporting elements of the crates. There is no risk, therefore, of a harmful concentrated loading at the center of the sidewalls.
Beer and refreshing beverages are produced in many different brands. In a stack of crates with H-profile, where the crates contain different kinds of beverages, these can be visualized, thanks to the recesses in the crates. It is not necessary, therefore, as in the case of conventional containers, to assort the crates so that each stack contains the same brand. The consumer will still be able to identify a brand, irrespectively of the position of the crate in the stack, and the consumer, moreover, will be able to pick bottles from optional crates in the stack.
Frequently the consumer will purchase wholly filled bottle crates. To this end an already full crate is often chosen which is topmost in a stack. When a conventional box-type bottle crate is to be lifted from the top of a stack of bottle crates, which are surrounded on three sides by other stacks, it is possible first to pull out the bottle crate a short distance in lateral direction, with its bottom sliding on the sidewalls of the bottle crate located directly underneath. When the bottle crate has been pulled out so far that it is partly free of the stacks of bottle crates close by, it can be lifted off with the help of handles, now accessible, which are provided in the sidewalls of the bottle crate.
On stacking the known crate with H-profile described above on a similar crate the supporting elements of the upper crate rest against shoulders which are situated on the outside of the sidewalls of the lower crate. The supporting elements of the upper crate here surround the sidewalls of the lower crate telescopically, so that the crates are fixed against shifting in lateral direction in relation to each other.
It is a disadvantage when the known crate with H-profile is to be lifted off from a similar stacked position, which is described above for the conventional box-type, that the known crate first has to be lifted so high from the crate lying directly underneath it that the supporting elements will be situated above the sidewalls of the lower crate. When the upper crate thus made free subsequently is passed sideways out of the stack, there is a great risk of the supporting elements dipping down into the lower crate and knocking against the goods in the same. Moreover, it is difficult manually to grip the crate so that lifting is possible if the same is surrounded on three sides by other crates.